


Kindness to Snails

by Erisette



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical language, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Found Family, Gen, after ep 80, world's tryingest dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:42:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9317126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erisette/pseuds/Erisette
Summary: (I Am Very Concerned About Scanlan Shorthalt And Want Things To Go Better: The Fic)(now also Kaylie and Pike Check Out Each Other's Scars: The Fic)(and Vex Talks Some Sense Into Scanlan: The Fic)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is some fic that's just GOOD, you know? it fits in with canon while adding new insights, the characterization is on point, the plot is engrossing, the emotions are real. AND THEN, there's the fic that is just straight-up self-indulgent shameless, gormless, pointless, fix-it-y fluff-y nonsense.
> 
> I give you two guesses which category this fic falls under, and the first guess doesn't count.

 

 

 

Vex and Vax were up and going for the exit almost as soon as they had realized that Raishan was gone. Vax paused to heal Keyleth, and as Vex waited for him Pike ran up and cast a Healing Word. Vex smiled at her, kind but distracted, and squeezed her hand in thanks before following her twin up the tunnel. Pike returned to the main group, which was splitting up in ones and twos, slowed with their hurts and dealing with the situation in Thordak's lair. Scanlan was very cautiously picking his way towards the entrance of the lair and stooping to pick up the brass flute which had somehow ended up on the ground; Pike caught up with him as he found it, and cast one more healing spell with the last little dregs of her magic. Scanlan shuddered when she did it, as hard as he had when she brought him back to life, and gave her a wan smile.

"Thanks, Pike."

"Oh, well," she said, and stepped up shoulder-to-shoulder with him to look over the cavern where their various companions were spreading out. "It's what I'm here for. I mean...oh, man. I really did it this time, huh? I broke my promise to you _all the way_. Some priest, huh?"

"I broke mine, first," he said, with very black humor in his voice. "So yours was just the lesser of two evils."

"You're coming back, though!" she said to him earnestly. "That's what matters, right? You're coming back to her, so. Really you hardly broke it at all. And really, Scanlan, that's kind of a silly promise to make--might as well promise to not get hungry or tired! There's some things you just can't help. You did your best, and I helped you keep it when that wasn't enough against, you know, two giant dragons. She can't get mad at you for that, and if she does she's not as smart as I know she is."

"How would you know how smart she is or is not?" He asked.

"She's your daughter," Pike answered, confused. "How could she not be?"

"Smarter than her old man, anyway," he said. There was a tiny bundle of something in his right hand that he was rolling back and forth, and his left hand clenched around the now-tarnished flute. "Bunch of fucking idiots, all of us, coming into this hellhole. What the fuck was Vax thinking?"

Of course, at that very moment, even as he was finishing his sentence (because the universe was watching him, or maybe it was just Sarenrae, to whom Pike had poured out thousands of words about Scanlan), Vex's voice came over the whisper-earrings saying, "Scanlan! Kaylie's here!"

There was a moment where Scanlan seemed to completely not understand Common, his face entirely blank. Then his eyes went wider than Pike had ever seen them and his mouth worked soundlessly for a while. "How?!" was what came out eventually, which was something Pike would very much like to know as well.

"I don't fucking know! She's here with Kerr and some others from Westruun, of all places--and Kash and Zahra are here too!"

"Kerr?" Keyleth's voice squeaked over the earrings. "And Kash and Zahra?!"

There was a general stampede for the surface, absent Kima and her 'troops'--Devosa and Gilmore and Grog. Scanlan grabbed Pike's arm and cast Dimension Door--the door was much bigger than usual, and the journey much more violent, but they popped back into existance on the surface where the twins and the others were only just coming in view. It was hard to see a gnome in the crowd of people, and Pike only managed it by following Scanlan's gaze, which found his daughter immediately. His voice seemed to desert him and he was silent, so Pike cried out: "Kaylie! Hello! It's so wonderful to see you!"

Kaylie's body language did the same thing Scanlan's did some times, when it came alive with energy that he immediately tried to suppress so as not to blow his cool cover. Pike had always found it pretty silly, and jumped up and down waving, her cheeks hurting from smiles. Kaylie didn't actually run, but she had to be moving pretty fast to outstrip the long-legged people, and when she came within easy speaking distance Pike could tell that she was surpressing a smile by the way the apples of her golden-brown cheeks dimpled. "Trickfoot, Shorthalt. Fancy meeting you here."

"We killed a dragon," Pike told her gleefully, "And got our asses kicked by another." Scanlan made a nearly inaudible wounded noise at her side, which she ignored to walk, clanking, forward and give Kaylie a careful hug. She pulled back to look her over intently, finding her to be in better shape than the members of Vox Machina, but still very much the worse for wear. Pike fretted internally at not even having a drop of healing, and made do with smoothing down a sprig of hair that rebelliously stuck out--her hair had grown since they last saw her. Kaylie shoved her arm away, but gently. (Scanlan, she tried not to notice, was looking at the two of them with such a face that she felt her cheeks growing hot under the mask of dirt and blood that covered them.)

"Hello, father," Kaylie said casually, and hooked her thumbs in her belt. "Fancy meeting you here." Her face was admirably cool, but her voice cracked a little in a way that made her sound terribly young.

"Kaylie," Scanlan said, and jerked forwards to clench her to him in a fierce embrace. "I'm sorry, honey, I--"

"--don't really have any hospitality to offer you," Pike cut in hastily. "Not right now, anyway. But we're probably gonna go back to Whitestone, so you should definitely come there! And everyone will be so glad to see you again. You and the others seem to have kind of saved the day!"

"Well, we're not dragon-slayers," she said, "But we did alright for ourselves, I reckon. Took down some of the bastards, anyway." Her face lit up suddenly with pride and mischief, and she rocked up and down on her heels, sing-songing, "Kaylie Shorthalt, giant-killer, scourge of fuckwits. I'm writing a ballad." Professional interest momentarily overcame Scanlan's emotional daze, and he raised his eyebrows at her, challengingly.

"Oh, really? You'll have to perform it for us." The twins passed them, re-entering the tunnel with Kerr in tow, and a shadow passed over Scanlan's face. "But later," he said absently. "There's shit to be done. I'll make a list."

"Scanlan's good at lists," Pike confided in Kaylie, bumping shoulders together in a friendly way as the gnomes also made for the lair. "He keeps us all in check! When he's not the one haring off to do some crazy sh--stuff--that is."

"You can swear all you fucking want," Kaylie complained. Pike noticed, though, that although Pike and Scanlan moved almost unconciously to keep her tucked between them for the descent, she didn't make a move to distance herself. "I'm not a child, nor a delicate fucking flower."

"I just want to make a good impression," Pike said, a little sheepish.

Looking over her shoulder, Kaylie made a big obvious show of raking her eyes up and down Pike's form. "Uh-huh."

"Nothing wrong with a little good ol' dirt," Pike said primly.

 


	2. Chapter 2

  
The hospitality of Whitestone castle includes baths and beds, so if Pike didn't already love Cass she would now. There was a brief territorial squabble about who got which bath first, during which Pike pulled Vex aside. Ostensibly to look her injuries over--which she did--but also to say quietly, "I'm worried about Scanlan, Vex."

"Why's that, darling?" Vex answered just as softly. "He seems alright--beat to shit, but then so are the rest of us, and you know he always tells us he doesn't need help."

"Yeah, sure." Pike planted her fists on her hips, exasperated. "Same as you never need help. Or Grog. Or Percy. Or--"

"I see what you mean, dear." Vex casually took a stealthy look at Scanlan, who was speaking with Kaylie, their body language awkward but faces intent. "What has he gotten himself into this time? Is this the drug thing again?"

"What drug thing?"

"Oh, that's right, you missed the finer points of our Marquetian misadventure." She smiled down at Pike, then knelt to give her a long hug. "You know Scanlan; his eyes can be bigger than his stomach. It's one thing he and I both suffer from."

"So you'll talk to him? I mean...." Pike chewed at the end of a lock of hair. "You both died today, but it's his first time. That really messes with you. And also he promised Kaylie he wouldn't, you see. So maybe he...oh, I don't know."

"He actually died? Not just fell unconscious?" Pike nodded, and Vex winced. "Oh. Yes, that would damage anyone's calm."

"He's so hard to _read_."

"Well, that I can certainly help you with." Vex got back to her feet and struck a pose. "Secrets aren't safe when Vex is around."

"Thank you." She gave the tall half-elf her best innocent look. "I know you and Percy are gonna want to, you know, get naked and do some--"

"Pike!" Vex laughed, placing a mock-scandalized hand over her heart.

"--but maybe just go see Scanlan afterwards, huh?" Vex winked, and Pike gave her best wink back before returning to her fellow gnomes.

"Come on, Kaylie," she said, "I got us first dibs on a bath. They're human-size so we can practically swim in them, and I know a great cantrip for keeping the water warm. Bye, Scanlan! We'll see you afterwards, okay?" He looked a little overwhelmed, which he didn't often, and usually when she managed it it was a victory; but she remembered him cold and unbreathing on the cracked ground, so after gesturing Kaylie on ahead she took a moment to lean over and kiss his cheek.

"Bye, Pike," he said.

She smiled at him. "You're sweet. And I will take good care of Kaylie."

 

Pike's quarters in Whitestone castle were the ones that had historically been offered to the in-residence priest of Pelor, and they included a private bath. Very small and spartan by human standards, but more than enough for a gnome or two. The tub was already full and steaming (because the west wing manservant Dickon was an _angel_ , and possibly a wizard) and Pike did a little dance in place. "Isn't it amazing? Do you need help getting out of your gear? I could use another pair of hands with mine, if you don't mind?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Kaylie said, and started helping. She clearly didn't have experience with plate armor, but she was a quick learner and her hands were very dextrous. Her own armor was leather, piecemeal, and much easier to get off, but Pike still helped. Their smallclothes of course didn't need help to remove, although Kaylie got out of hers much faster than Pike, leaving them in a neatly folded stack that made Pike feel guilty for the way her own were strewn haphazardly around the chamber. There was a stool by the side of the tub to help scramble in, and they both did as quick as could be.

Pike slid completely under the water, rubbing vigorously at her scalp to loosen her matted hair, before surfacing with a satisfied sigh. At the other end of the tub, Kaylie was standing up and bending backwards to wash her own hair--the water was chest-high on her where it came to Pike's ribs. The soap-basket hooked over the edge had plenty of soap for two, and a long-handled scrub brush perfect for getting the parts short arms couldn't quite reach. The water became cloudy with blood and mud after barely a minute of washing, until Kaylie (with a look of concentration) cast a Prestidigitation cantrip and cleared it up. "Nice," Pike said, and was revived enough by the water to muster a weak cleansing spell of her own. Scrubbing mostly done, the two women settled at the opposite ends of the tub and looked at each other.

"Holy shit," Kaylie marveled. "That's fucking impressive is what that is."

"What? ...oh!" Pike obligingly stood up so she could better see the vicious scars that cut across her torso, left ribs to right hip and right shoulder to lower belly, in a crooked X. "Pretty gnarly, huh? This one is from the glabrezu--it's a kind of demon--that one was so bad it actually killed me. The others took me to Sarenrae's temple and I was lucky enough to get to come back--your father really helped with the ritual, actually, they tell me. And the other is from an assassin right here in Whitestone." Kaylie boggled at her, and she hastened to reassure: "Not that that is a common thing! There was this other demon creature, which was out for revenge, and now there's magical protections and stuff so it shouldn't be able to happen again. Or that's what Allura says, anyway." She sat back down and floated closer to Kaylie. "You have some pretty impressive ones of your own. That one on your back is nasty."

"Got in a disagreement over a payment," Kaylie said archly, and slithered out of the tub to dig something out of her pile of clothing. She came back with a curved dagger, plain but very well-kept. "Got stabbed with this little fucker here. When I won that fight it seemed appropriate to keep it for myself."

" _Nasty_ ," Pike repeated, approvingly.

Kaylie chucked the dagger back in the general direction of her stuff and climbed back in the tub with a youthful agility Pike envied. "My father got any like that?"

"Well, some. Not so bad as mine, but of course--most of his abilities he can use at a distance, but he takes his share of swords and arrows. And there was this umberhulk, when we were in the Underdark--did he tell you about that? We had to go to find Lady Kima, it was a mess, never go there if you can help it--anyway, the umberhulk chewed him up but good." Kaylie nodded slowly, and Pike winced. "I mean, ah, not, not too bad, though? He's really tough, Scanlan is, and a really good spellcaster too. He can--he can--h-he--"

"Don't strain yourself," Kaylie said drily. "I'm not gonna write him off because of something you say. Although...while I'm thinking of it...what the fuck are your intentions towards my old man anyway."

"Oh. I don't..." Pike sighed, and lay back to look at the ceiling. "I don't know, honest. What about _you_? What are _your_ intentions towards him?"

"I don't know." Kaylie admitted, and added with gently mockery: " _Honest_."

"This is not fair," Pike said. "You're a lot like him--at least I think so--only not if you don't want to be like him...I only mean, you could probably tell me the sky is green and you could make me believe it."

"That's the nicest thing I've heard all year." They floated in silence for a while, as the water slowly cooled. "I like you, Pike."

"Thank you!" Touched, she beamed at Kaylie, almost going for a hug before she remembered their currently unclothed state. "I like you too. Very much! I'm so glad we get to see you again. I really want to get to know you better. I know Scanlan does too."

For the first time, Kaylie's expression was genuinely vulnerable, and she hugged herself as she spoke. "Do you...I mean, you're his friend." She raised her eyebrows. " _Just_ a friend."

"Oh. Um." Pike slid down in the water until only her nose up was visible.

"Um-hmm. Anyway. Does he.... What you said, about making you believe anything. He seems like he wants to know me--seems like he does give a shit, more than just feeling guilty even--but does he really? I mean--"

Pike stopped retreating lower in the water and slid forward to capture Kaylie's hands in her own. "He really, really does," she said firmly. "Honestly. I'm not sure about a lot of things with Scanlan, but I'm sure about that." Kaylie smiled at her , just a little, and Pike smiled back, letting go and going for the side of the tub to scramble out. "He's a good person, you know. I mean, he's all kinds of all-fucked-up, but then so are the rest of us. That's why we work, you know?"

"Don't know a lot about that," Kaylie said, as she followed her out of the bath. "But I guess if I can't believe a priest, who can I?"

"Oh, man," Pike said. "I'd be careful about that, I mean, I'm the same. With being fucked-up, I mean."

"I've met worse."


	3. Chapter 3

  
On leaving the council chamber for their individual rooms, Vex whispered a quick word to Percy before following behind Scanlan. He looked up and back at her. "Are you lost?"

"I just thought to take a moment with you before we go to bed, Scanlan."

"Why Vex!" He held a hand to his mouth. "I didn't know you felt that way! You're very beautiful, of course, but my heart belongs to another."

She merely smiled at him, toying with Raven's Slumber with one hand. "You're terribly charming, darling, but not that much. I just want to talk."

He stopped in the middle of the corridor to give her a weary, unimpressed look. "Did Pike put you up to this?"

"Yes. She did." She resumed walking and called over her shoulder: "You don't want me to disappoint Pike, do you?"

"That's dirty pool, Vex'ahlia," he said, but resumed walking. When they reached the room that he was using, he bowed her in the door like a gentleman, then threw off almost all his clothes on the way to sit cross-legged on the bed. If he was hoping to discomfort her he failed: she merely kicked the clothes out of her way and sat on the carpet, which put her head much lower than his. She unslung her pack from where it hung at her side and withdrew from it a dark bottle with a bright red label.

"It's called Courage, and it's lovely. I stole it from Percy, so let's hurry up and make a dent in it."

"Oh?" He watched as she opened the bottle and took a long pull from it before handing it up to him. He tilted the bottle, which was bigger than his head, and squinted at the slosh of liquid within the clouded glass. "Is this really a good idea? We're going half-way across the world to fight a dragon as soon as we wake up. We probably should be at our best."

"We fucking died today, Scanlan," she said soberly. "I think we earned it." He shuddered, but didn't argue, and raised the bottle to his lips. He took a deep, slow drink, then lowered the bottle and looked at it with a slightly more impressed eye.

"That shit's not bad."

"Right?" Vex gestured for the bottle back, and took another sip. Passing it back and forth, the two of them did half the bottle in a matter of minutes, before Vex reluctantly recorked it and returned it to her bag. "Soooo," she said slowly. "That was a fucking terrible day." Scanlan didn't answer, merely rubbing his hands across his face. She sighed. "My brother was kind of a dick to you. And in front of Kaylie, too. I don't have a right to apologize on his behalf, but I just want you to know that...oh, I don't know. That's I'm pissed too. That you're right to be upset about fucking dying. It's all well and good for him to trust to destiny when he hasn't even died yet."

"Well, I wasn't gonna say it," he said, and there was--for once--absolutely no amusement in his voice. "I can't die, Vex. Not again. I won't."

"So let us help you, darling," she said, going up on her knees to lean forward and look him right in the eyes. "None of us can make it alone. I've died twice now, but there must be a hundred other times when I was close to it, but was brought out by my brother, or Pike, or Grog with his potions--or _you_."

"I don't know," he said, with more of his usual spark, "I love you people, you know that, like you're my own blood--but I don't know how much I trust my life to you. I've been there to see almost every spectacular fuck-up you all have got into."

"Well, you have to trust someone, Scanlan," she said soberly, and sat back on her haunches. Playing with her necklace again, she slowly went on: "You know how we never call you our leader?"

He kicked his heels against the bedspread, small as a child but looking suddenly quite old. "I have noticed, yes."

"It's not that we don't think you're capable, or that we don't appreciate what you do...I just don't think that's us, you know? One person being in charge." She smiled. "In the village where we grew up, Vax and I, with our mother, there were mostly farmers and herdsmen. Have you ever seen a sheepdog on the job?"

"Once or twice," he said wryly.

"They run in and out and around--I used to love watching them work. It had to have been tiring, but they had a lot of energy. You're more like that for us, I think. Keeping us on track. Getting us all moving in the right direction." With a wicked, merry look she added: "Keeping the big bad wolves off."

"Not keeping them off that well. You've almost all died at least once." He looked more than old now--ancient, withered, all the energy and fuckery and fun drained out of his slight form. Vex scooted forward, on impulse, and folded her thin arms around his body. He didn't respond, but neither did he fight her off, and she hugged him tighter.

"You've friends. If you want them. A family, even, if you don't manage to fight us off. Don't waste us, will you?" He finally hugged her back, and she smiled into his thick hair. "You know I can't abide waste."

"Sarenrae forbid," he said, voice a little muffled, and pulled back to look at her. This close she could see flecks of green and gold in his eyes, huge and a little shiny as he looked at her. "Thanks, Vex," he said. "It really means a lot."

"Well. That's alright, then." She smiled at him one more time, repentantly straightened his collar from where she'd rumpled it, and stood up with a groan of discomfort as her barely-healed injuries reasserted themselves. "I'll be keeping the Courage, I think. I probably need it more than you do."

"Oh, I don't know. Have you _met_ Kaylie?"

"I have. She's wonderful." Vex re-donned the silly, battered, beloved hat he had given it and cocked it at a rakish angle to wink at him. "She and Pike seem to get along wonderfully."

"Exactly why I need the Courage," he said, but smiled at her as she left.


End file.
